Backyard Wildlife

Was supposed to be cleaning a shed that will not be here next year but jumping salmon distracted me..then bees on the walk to and fro. It is good to have hobbies other than work. These look fuzzier and darker on here..but you get the drift ! Taking photos of jumping salmon without a waterfall is almost futile. You basically get the second jump or its pal jumping right after him.

I liked the blue hornet. Anyone have an ID for it?
 
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Gyrfalcon22 said:
Was supposed to be cleaning a shed that will not be here next year but jumping salmon distracted me..then bees on the walk to and fro. It is good to have hobbies other than work. These look fuzzier and darker on here..but you get the drift ! Taking photos of jumping salmon without a waterfall is almost futile. You basically get the second jump or its pal jumping right after him.

I liked the blue hornet. Anyone have an ID for it?

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Awesome leaping salmon photos!
 
Jim F. said:
Looks like a Bald Faced Hornet to me. Nice shots!
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Thanks Jim. I saw a bigger blue/white one today and it had the white face and I was thinking the same thing. Those are the only bee-creature that I am wary of locally. They are pretty aggressive. Still not as hated as Deer/Horse flies backpacking. I bring the badminton racket to play with them there if they don't cool it : )
 
Gyrfalcon22 said:
Was supposed to be cleaning a shed that will not be here next year but jumping salmon distracted me..then bees on the walk to and fro. It is good to have hobbies other than work. These look fuzzier and darker on here..but you get the drift ! Taking photos of jumping salmon without a waterfall is almost futile. You basically get the second jump or its pal jumping right after him.

I liked the blue hornet. Anyone have an ID for it?

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Sounds like Jim got the Bald Faced Hornet. The yellow and black one is the European Paper Wasp.

European Paper Wasp

Characteristics, Scientific Name, Classification, Taxonomy, Territorial Claims, and pictures of the European-Paper-Wasp (North America)
www.insectidentification.org
 
Gyrfalcon22 said:
Thanks Jim. I saw a bigger blue/white one today and it had the white face and I was thinking the same thing.
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I'm wondering if the "blue" is some manner of genetic coloration mutation? Those rascals do deliver a potent sting and are typically extremely aggressive.
 
I just have to add one more before I give everyone a well deserved rest from my postings..Something I learned today. I was looking at shots of the Bald faced hornet today (thanks Jim for ID) and I saw the three small eyes on top of its head. Research shows that these are similar to the rudimentary Parietal eye I had seen on a snake I photographed a couple years back. On a bee these are called Ocelli. Really cool. For the snake the parietal eye basically detects shadows from predators overhead..and bees use their three for navigation and orientation, and immediate shapes and colors.. They don't fully function as a normal eye.

Pretty cool stuff !
 
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Hi GF,
Great pictures, especially that sharp, high contrast image of the garter snake's head. Love that eye.
I was previously aware of the parietal (=pineal) eye in unusual reptiles, like the tuatara. In the tuatara, the eye appears to have not only have neuroendocrine functions a semi-retina like structure (see here and here). In the tuatara, this third eye also appears to have a neuroendocrine function, much like the pineal gland and it may have some photoreceptor function. In lizards that have a parietal eye (and some other vertebrates, such as some amphibians, and some fishes), this structure primarily seems linked to the regulation of melatonin (and perhaps other hormones) by the pineal gland to which it is attached but not in vision.
Several sources state that as a group snakes lack a parietal (=pineal) eye (see here and here and here). They have pineal glands, but these are part of the brain, not penetrating through a scale. Also, I looked at other pictures (see here too) of various garter snakes, I could not find anything similar to the dot in the frontal scale which you highlighted with the red line in your image. Might you have a well-positioned dew drop?
Steve
 
Cabezon said:
Hi GF,
Great pictures, especially that sharp, high contrast image of the garter snake's head. Love that eye.
I was previously aware of the parietal (=pineal) eye in unusual reptiles, like the tuatara. In the tuatara, the eye appears to have not only have neuroendocrine functions a semi-retina like structure (see here and here). In the tuatara, this third eye also appears to have a neuroendocrine function, much like the pineal gland and it may have some photoreceptor function. In lizards that have a parietal eye (and some other vertebrates, such as some amphibians, and some fishes), this structure primarily seems linked to the regulation of melatonin (and perhaps other hormones) by the pineal gland to which it is attached but not in vision.
Several sources state that as a group snakes lack a parietal (=pineal) eye (see here and here and here). They have pineal glands, but these are part of the brain, not penetrating through a scale. Also, I looked at other pictures (see here too) of various garter snakes, I could not find anything similar to the dot in the frontal scale which you highlighted with the red line in your image. Might you have a well-positioned dew drop?
Steve
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Great references, Steve. I'll see if I can go back and find more photos of that snake. I am sure you are right. Seems I do recall not seeing the spot on other shots I had of snakes. Thanks for the detailed information. Was hoping you or others would check my observations.
 
Here we go @Cabezon I went to near the same spot I took the other snake photo from a couple years back and found this little guy today. No rain droplet this time, but I think these snakes have genetically adapted false eye spots to fool ME ! Like those moths with owl eyes/windows? These darn snakes are playing games with me ! :)
 
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Gyrfalcon22 said:
I did see a lighter barred last year at a park and it was strikingly different than what I am used to
locally.
I'll try and not get too owl crazy.. yes, the pygmy owls are incredible ! usually just a quick flutter view
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It's not uncommon at all to see barred owls in and around our yard. Sometimes in the surrounding trees and sometimes out in the open perched on a convenient post hunting for rodents in the tall grass. The last one I saw a few weeks ago was perched on a lawn mower handle in the middle of the side yard. I watched him for about 20 minutes while he swiveled his head around listening for his prey.. Eventually he stiffened and triangulated and pounced and came up with a fat vole. I consider a rare treat to witness whole performance beginning to end.

Our barred owls seem to have two distinct color phases. Light almost white with very dark bars and a tawny brown phase with dark brown bars. It may be that the bars are the same on both and just look darker on the light background.

We also have a good population of Northern Pygmy Owls. I've lived here for over 30 years and have only seen them twice. For many years I had been hearing a bird toot, toot, tooting at night and never knew what it was until the second time I saw a Pygmy it was sitting on a branch tooting away at dusk.
Last week I was outside around midnight listening to two and possibly three of them toot, toot ,tooting.
 
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Not my back yard, but came across this guy halfway across a lake the other day. (Sorry for the poor pic - screen grab from a video.) I'd guess about 30" long, very vivid colors
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I was most impressed with how fast it was swimming - no way would you outrun it in a float tube!
It did vear toward me and try to board the kayak, but I declined the request and sent it on its way.
 
Not many get as excited as I do about seeing dead salmon but it appears more Chinook salmon are showing up spawned here on this coastal tidewater river. Hopefully not seeing mortalities from the river conditions. This stretch atleast always has large deep holes and good water exchange.

This shot is lit by moonlight as much as the dark sunset. (2 second exposure)
 
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Finally got out for a bit this morning, gimpy hip and all. my close to home spot this time of year has been taken over by homeless camps/folks sleeping in vehicles/garbage. I moved to the other end of the park, but few birds other than geese & gulls. A brief visit with a park maintenance super led to this shot. Western Pond Turtle? I had no idea this delightful little haven existed.Turtle1.JPG
 
Jim F. said:
Finally got out for a bit this morning, gimpy hip and all. my close to home spot this time of year has been taken over by homeless camps/folks sleeping in vehicles/garbage. I moved to the other end of the park, but few birds other than geese & gulls. A brief visit with a park maintenance super led to this shot. Western Pond Turtle? I had no idea this delightful little haven existed.View attachment 36377
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I like the reflection showing underside colors
 
Thanks, Pat! Lighting & pose plus water conditions were perfect for that shot. I think I took 20-some shots of the patient little model.
 
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